Arsenal

I've just watched Arsenal's 5-0 victory over Derby on Match of the Day and I have to say, I am impressed!

There has been a lot of criticism in recent seasons that despite Arsenal's flowing play, there was a lack of finishing. Looking at what I have seen this season, it appears that this may have been solved, thankfully without having to forgo the attractive play.

It also appears the 'Cesc Fabregas may be this seasons Christiano Ronaldo who had a stormer last season. He's scored more already this season than he did all last season! It's just a shame I'm not the only one in our Fantasy Football league that has him!

Politics

Over the past month or so I have been thoroughly enjoying watching all seven series of The West Wing. Not only is the acting brilliant, the storyline's well thought up, but it also succeeds (in my eyes) in making politics interesting. The only problem is that I now know more about the Democratic and Republican party (or at least their fictional equivalents) than I know about the Big Three (well, arguably two!) parties in the UK. Sure, I find the politics in this country interesting, and enjoy debating with people about the few issues that I know anything about (such as the Euro), but I have to say, for someone doing a Masters degree with not only politics in the title, but run by the Politics department of Newcastle University, my knowledge, or lack of it, is almost embarrassing.

Part of the problem, I feel, is that although I may like a particular party's stance on one issue, I dislike their stance on another. It's like choosing the better of two evils. I'm going to make a real effort over the coming year (without detracting from my studies, obviously!) to look at what each party stands for and some of their key policies. Hopefully this will stand me in good stead for the looming general election.

First Premiership Managerial Casulty!

A statement on the Chelsea website has announced that: "Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho have agreed to part company today (Thursday) by mutual consent."

My first reaction was shock, but when you look at it, I'm actually not THAT surprised. Sure, if you looked at the pre-season betting odds on the first premiership manager to get the sack, you may have seen one of the newly promoted teams' manager there, or someone like Sammy Lee. But I'm sure Jose's name would've probably featured fairly high up, certainly top of the 'big four'.

It is hardly surprising when you think of the millions that have been ploughed into the club since Abramovich has taken over, that winning the league is not enough. Champions League success was what Mourinho is judged on, and although he was only given one game in that competition this year (an unconvincing draw with the 1000-1 outsiders for the competition, Rosenburg) he has also had a poor start to the Premiership.

It will be interesting to see how Grant fairs as manager, and the role that Abramovich will play in the management of the team. The rift between Mourinho and Abramovich widely documented last season, however Grant and he are reported to be 'close friends'.

Oh, and Chris... I wouldn't pay too much attention to Liz's ribbings on your blog yesterday - when I told her that Mourinho had been sacked she said in a panicked voice... "He's not in my fantasy football team is he!?" He he he

"Free Goal" and betting irregularities

Some of you may remember a few weeks ago, the Nottingham Forest v Leicester Carling cup game being abandoned when Leicester defender, Steve Clarke, collapsed in the dressing room at half time.

This game was replayed last night, and in a gesture of pure sportsmanship, Leicester allowed the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper to score from the kickoff to reflect the fact the they had been 1-0 when the previous game was abandoned.



Whilst I applaud the sentiment and would probable have hoped for Arsenal (the team I support) to do the same thing had a similar situation happened to them, I am mindful of the implications that this has to the betting on the match.

Indeed, a similar thing DID happen to Arsenal a few years ago when the ball was put out of play buy Sheffield United because of an injury and Nwankwo Kanu (then an Arsenal player) poked in a cross when it was presumed that the resulting throw in would've been played back to the Sheffield United team as they had possession when the injury had happened. The referee allowed the goal as there was no rule that had actually been broken. Ultimately, Arsenal offered to replay the game, however there was talk on the day as to whether the Arsenal goalkeeper - David Seaman - should've allowed United to score in order to even up the score. The argument given against this was that if people had bet on the score, and scorers of the match, this sort of action could severely influence the results of these bets. I just wish I'd put my whole student loan on the Forest keeper to score first last night. Would've netted me a tidy sum of money.

The Video Game Pianist

I stumbled across some of this guy's videos on YouTube today - he is an absolute legend! Born in Hong Kong to Chinese and Japanese parents, Video Game Pianist moved to California when he was three years old and began taking interest in the piano at the age of 4 when, after hearing his sister play, he began imitating songs. His parents noticed his potential and enrolled him in piano lessons.

He then combined his two great passions, music and video games, repetitively listening to the Mario themes so that he could play them himself.

In this particular video he goes through a medley of pretty much all the Mario themes, and although it is 10 minutes long, make sure you listen to it from 9:15 onwards - possible the fastest bit of piano playing ever!

An interesting website!

I was procrastinating, today and stumbled across this website.

It has picture of different passages from the Bible being acted out by lego characters!

I found it quite amusing, and who know, may use it during Camp talks next week!

When Buffalos Attack!

Have a watch of this amazing video below. It's an amazing sequence of footage, where lions attack a small herd of buffalo, capturing a baby one, have to wrestle with a crocodile over their capture, then the buffalo's return with reinforcements to try and rescue their young one. Truly amazing!